Plug-in receptacle-circuit breaker device having unitary housing

ABSTRACT

A very flexible electric service panel for temporary hookups is constructed to receive plug-in circuit breakers for direct wiring, as well as four prong receptacle type plug-in power outlet fittings for making cord set connections. The power outlet fitting is constructed by utilizing a hook-like member to mechanically hold a subassembly and a receptacle together as a unitary structure. The subassembly consists of two single pole circuit breakers stacked side by side. The receptacle is adjacent to the load end of the subassembly and electrically connected to the load terminals of the breakers. Plug-in type neutral and grounding connectors at the rear of the receptacle engage forwardly extending legs of neutral and ground busses in the service panel, as plug-in line terminals of the breakers engage energized stabs in the service panel.

United States Patent ['19] Buxton PLUG-IN RECEPTACLE-CIRCUIT BREAKERDEVICE HAVING UNITARY HOUSING [75] Inventor: Aldon Buxton, StoneMountain, Ga.

[73] Assignee: l-T-E Imperial Corporation,

Philadelphia, Pa.

221 Filed: Aug. 9, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 169,949

[451 July 3,1973

Primary Examinerl-lerman J. Hohauser Assistant Examiner-Gerald P. TolinAttorney-Sidney G. Faber. Bernard Gerb et a1.

[ 5 7] ABSTRACT A very flexible electric service panel for temporaryhookups is constructed to receive plug-in circuit breakers for directwiring, as well as four prong receptacle type plug-in power outletfittings for making cord set connections. The power outlet fitting isconstructed by utilizing a hook-like member to mechanically hold asubassembly and a receptacle together as a unitary structure. Thesubassembly consists of two single pole circuit breakers stacked side byside. The receptacle is adjacent to the load end of the subassembly andelectrically connected to the load terminals of the breakers. Plug-intype neutral and grounding connectors at the rear of the receptacleengage forwardly extending legs of neutral and ground busses in theservice panel, as plug-in line terminals of the breakers engageenergized stabs in the service panel.

15 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures Patented July 3, 1973 7 Sheets-Sheet lPatented July 3, 1973 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 3, 1973 7Sheets-Sheet 5 j, 57 INVENTOR. A100 4. 50x70 Patented July 3, 19733,743,891

7 Sheets-Sheet I.

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PLUG-IN RECEPTACLE-CIRCUIT BREAKER DEVICE HAVING UNITARY HOUSING Inrecent years local regulatory agencies have become more active insetting standards for electric service equipment for temporary hookupsas required for boat docks, marinas, trailer parks, and mobile homeparks. In particular, such a temporary service panel must be flexibleenough so as to readily connect thereto either by utilization of plugsor by direct wiring.

Typically, the equipment in a trailer or mobile home park is called uponas the hookup point for basic electric service requirements in a singlephase four-wire system, including a neutral and an equipment ground. For40 or 50 ampere service the park equipment must accept either a cord setor direct wiring; for 100 ampere service either two 50 ampere cord setsor direct wiring; for 150 ampere service, three 50 ampere cord sets ordirect wiring; and for 200 ampere service, direct wiring only. Thus, thepark equipment must provide seven alternative service connections. Tomake matters even more difficult, the park equipment must be factorywired so that only extremely limited field modification may take place,and in particular there is a prohibition against field wiring betweenreceptacles and circuit breakers to achieve interchangeability.

The most flexible prior art approach appears to be one in which plug-inunits were provided. Each of these units comprised a relatively largemounting plate carrying circuit breakers and receptacles. These plug-inunits were relatively bulky and expensive. In addition, these prior artdevices were difficult to manufacture to reasonable dimensionaltolerances because of size. Quite often these plug-in units did notoperate properly, in that poor connections were made resulting in afloating neutral and/or poor ground integrity especially when screwpressure was used to make connections by forcing abutting steel partstogether.

In accordance with the instant invention the trailer or mobile home parkis provided with panels having bussing so arranged that plug-in typecircuit breaker units of the desired combination may readily be mounted.For direct wiring conventional circuit breakers are mounted in the paneland for cord sets power outlet fittings are mounted in the panel. Eachof these power outlet fittings consists of an assembly of twoconventional single pole circuit breakers and a receptacle for receivinga four-prong plug. Each of these single pole units is provided with aplug-in type line terminal and the receptacle section is provided withplug-in type neutral and ground terminals.

Accordingly, a primary object of the instant invention is to providenovel flexible electrical service equipment for temporary servicerequirements.

Another object is to provide a novel construction for a power outletfitting.

Still another object is to provide a power outlet fitting for receivinga four-prong plug.

A further object is to provide a power outlet fitting comprising anassembly of a receptacle section and two standard single pole circuitbreakers.

These objects as well as other objects of this invention will becomereadily apparent after reading the following description of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a four-prong receptacle type power outletfitting constructed in accordance with teachings of the instantinvention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the power outlet fitting looking in thedirection of arrows 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the power outlet fitting looking in thedirection of arrows 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation of the power outlet fitting.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 with the receptacle section rearhousing part removed.

FIG. 6 is a rear elevation of the front housing part for the receptaclesection.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of the securing insert member showing itsoperative relationship with adjacent portions of the receptacle sectionand the single-pole circuit breakers.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective showing the main elements of the poweroutlet fitting of FIGS. 1-7.

FIG. 9 is a front elevation, with the front covers removed, of anelectrical panel specially adapted for use in trailer parks and mobilehome parks, and capable of utilizing the power outlet fitting of FIGS.1-8.

FIG. 10 is a side elevation, with housing portions cut away, of theelectric panel, looking in the direction of arrows 10-10 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a rear elevation looking in the direction of arrows l1-11 ofFIG. 10 with rear portions of the pedestal cut away to reveal thebussing through which the electric panel of FIGS. 9 and 10 is energized.

FIG. 12 is a view similar to that of FIG. 9 with the upper front coverin place and a power outlet fitting mounted in the panel with a cord setconnected to the fitting.

FIG. 13 is a view similar to that of FIG. 10 showing the major elementsof FIG. 12.

Now referring to the figures and more particularly to FIGS. 1-8.Four-prong receptacle type power outlet fitting indicated generally byreference numeral 20 comprises single pole circuit breakers 21, 22 andfourprong receptacle 23, secured together by means including hook-likeretainer insert 24 (FIGS. 7 and 8) to form a unitary structure.

Circuit breakers 21 and 22 are stacked side by side with cap 26 andrivet 27 mechanically tying the handles of both circuit breakers 21 and22 together for movement in unison. In addition, circuit breakers 21, 22have interconnected automatic overload tripping units, so that a faultcondition in one of the circuit breakers 21, 22 will automatically causetripping of both. This construction is illustrated in detail in US. Pat.No. b2,996,589 issued Aug. 15, 1961 to F. E. Myers for a PivotedBimetal.

Circuit breakers 21, 22 are identical units, each having a plug-in typeline terminal 28, whose jawas are engageable with plate-like stab 29 ofa distribution panel. Circuit breaker 22 is also provided with loadterminal 31 having wire grip 32 which clamps one end of stiff conductor33 into firm electrical engagement with load terminal 31. Similarly,wire grip 34 clamps one end of stiff conductor 35 into firm electricalengagement with the load terminal of circuit breaker 22.

Clamp 36 at the other end of conductor 33 clamps blade receivingjaw-type terminal 37 into firm electrical engagement with the right endof conductor 33 as viewed in FIG. 8. Similarly, clamp 38 electricallyconnects jaw-type terminal 39 to the right end of conductor 35. Jaw-type terminals 41, 42, extending in opposite directions from theplane of conducting bar 43, are connected to opposite ends thereof bythe respective clamps 44, 45. Similarly, jaw-type terminals, 46, 47extend in opposite directions from the plane of conducting bar 48 andare secured to opposite ends thereof by the respective clamps 51, 52.

The portions of receptacle housing 54, 65 are held together by one wayscrews 76, 87, 87 received by threaded apertures 89, 91, 91 in forwardhousing part 54. The latter is provided with four plug prong receivingopenings 55, 56, S7 and 58, aligned with terminals 37, 39, 41 and 46,respectively, so that these terminals will be engaged by the respectiveprongs 59, 60, 61 and 62 of four-prong plug 63 as these prongs areinserted into receptacle section 23 of power outlet fitting 20.

Rear molded insulating housing part 65 is provided with paralleltransverse slots 66, 67 at the rear thereof. Jaw portions of terminals42 and 47 extend into the respective slots 66, 67 from the interior ofhousing 54, 65, for reasons which will be hereinafter explained.Formations 71, 71 extending to the left from forward housing part 54 arereceived in complementary reces ses 72 at the load end of circuitbreakers 21, 22. Similar locating formations 73, 73 extend to the leftfrom rear housing part 65 into complementary formations 74 at the loadend of circuit breakers 21, 22.

A major portion of the mechanical securing of receptacle section 23 tothe subassembly of circuit breakers 21, 22 is accomplished by hook orgenerally L-shaped retainer insert 24 (FIGS. 4, 7 and 8) which isfastened to rear housing part 65 by screw 76 which extends throughclearance aperture 77 in enlarged cylindrical portion 83 at the rightend of insert arm 78 through clearance aperture 83a in rear housing part65, and is received by threaded aperture 89 in front housing part 54.The other arm 79 of insert 24 extends into space 79a between circuitbreakers 21, 22 formed by abutting embossments similar to embossments81, 82 (FIG. 7). Included surface 80 of retainer arms 78, 79 is adjacentto embossments 82, cooperating therewith to prevent receptacle section23 from being moved to the right of subassembly 21, 22.

Enlargement 83 and the portion of arm 78 to the right thereof restagainst recessed ledge 84, at the rear of housing part 65, cooperatingtherewith to form a dividing wall between gas expansion chambers 84a,84b (FIG. 4). These chambers 84a, 84b communicate with the load end ofventing passages 96, 96 (FIG. 2) in the respective circuit breakers 21,22 through apertures 97a, 97b, respectively (FIG. 3), in rear housingpart 65. Thus, arcing gases formed upon separation of movable contact 15from stationary contact 16, in circuit breaker 21, travel from are chute17 through passage 96 and aligned aperature 97b into chamber 84b wherethese gases expand and are deflected rearward by the curved wall at theright of chamber 84b.

Screw 92 extends through threaded aperture 93 in forward housing part54, through clearance aperture 94 in rear housing part 65 and clearanceaperture 88 in insert leg 78, and is threadably received in one of thethreaded apertures 102 in the forward leg of Z-shaped mounting ledge 103of electrical service panel 100 (See FIGS. 9-13).

Now referring more particularly to FIGS. 9-13, panel 100 includesgenerally rectangular housing 101 having upper and lower removablecovers 104, 105 at the front thereof. Elongated ground bus 106 extendsparallel to and is laterally spaced from transverse circuit interruptermounting ledge 103. Screws 107, extending through the rear leg of groundbus 106, secure the latter flush against the rear surface of housing101. The leftmost screw 107 in FIG. 9 also secures the upper end ofgrounding strap 108 to bus 106. Terminal strip 109 and bonding wire 110are secured to the lower end of grounding strap 108.

L-shaped neutral bar 1 11 is positioned below grounding bus 106 andextends parallel thereto. Molded insulating brackets 112, 113 secured tothe rear wall of housing 101 by screws 114 engage neutral bus 111 atopposite ends thereof to space the latter forward of rear wall 115 andabove brounding strap 108. Neutral strip 116 and wire grips 117, 118 aremounted to the rear leg of neutral bus 111 on the forward surfacethereof. One end of twisted neutral strap 119 is connected by screw 121to neutral bus 111, at the left thereof, and the other end is connectedby screw 122 to strap 123 (FIG. 11). Screw 124 connects strap 123 toinsulating block 125 positioned adjacent the forward wall of pedestaland also secures wire grip 126 to strap 123. Another wire grip 127 ismounted by screw 120 to neutral conductor 119 at a portion thereofwithin pedestal 130.

A plurality of screws 128 extend through the rear wall of panel housing101 to secure the latter on forward surface 129 of pedestal 130. Neutralconductor 119 as well as hot conductors 132, 133 are bent over at rightangles at points intermediate their ends, with the horizontal portionsof the bends extending between the interiors of housing 101 and pedestal130 and in doing so extend through insulating gasket 134 sandwichedbetween the rear of housing 101 and the front of pedestal 130.

Screws 138, 139 secure the pedestal ends of the respective conductors132, 133 to the respective straps 136, 137 which are connected by screws144, 145, respectively, to insulating block 125. Screws 144, also securethe respective wire grips 142, 143 to straps 136, 137, respectively,Screws 147 secure block 125 to insulating sheet 148 covering window 149in the front wall of pedestal 130.

The ends of conductors 132, 133 within housing 101 are connected byscrews 151 to the respective straps 152, 153 to which plug-in connectors154, 155, respectively, of meter block 156 are mounted. The latterincludes insulating mounting sheet 157 to which straps 152, 153, 158,159 are secured in spaced relationship. Brackets 157a, secured to therear wall of housing 101 by screws 157b, are connected by screws 157c toinsulating sheet 157 to support the latter in operative positions spacedforward of housing rear wall 115 and parallel thereto. Housing cover 104is provided with meter sealing ring 104a in front of sheet 157.

Plug-in connectors 162, 163 are connected to straps 158, 159 which areconnected by screws 161 to additional straps;164, 165 respectively,connected to conducting sheets 265, 266 from which the respective stabs165a, 166a are formed. Conducting sheet 265 also provides stabs 165b-d.Similarly, conducting sheet 266 provides stabs 166b-d. The stabs fromthese respective conducting sheets are interleaved and are disposed in arow parallel to mounting ledge 103 being spaced by rigid insulator 267.Flexible insulating sheet 268 overlies conducting sheets 265, 266. Theconstruction of these conducting sheets and the manner in which stabs165a-d and 166a-d are maintained in their operative positions andinsulated from one another is described in detail in U. S. Pat. No.3,349,292 issued Oct. 24, 1967 to J. F. Meacham for Load Center.

Mounting ledge 103 is provided with a pair of spaced mounting hooks 175,175, in line with stabs 165a and 166b, which are intended to mount acircuit breaker extending over four adjacent ones of the stabs 165a-dand 166a-d. Such a circuit breaker is illustrated in U. S. Pat. No.3,573,415 issued Apr. 6, 1971 to C. E. Gryctko for a Parallel PoleCircuit Breaker.

The forward edge of ground bus 106 is provided with notches 306, 307(FIG. 9), and the forward edge of neutral bus 111 is provided withnotches 308, 309, with notches 306, 308 being aligned with one mountinghook 175 and notches 307, 309 being aligned with the other mounting hook175.

The portion of housing 101 containing meter block 156 is separated fromthe remainder of housing 101 by transverse insulating sheet 172 which isappropriately notched to fit over bus elements 119, 164, 165 etc. and isheld in operative position by fitting into notches at the upper ends ofledges 173, 174 which extend inward of housing 101 partway along thesides thereof. These ledges 173, 174, in combination with another legde17a extending inwardly of housing 101 along the bottom thereof, supportface plate 176 which provides a dead front over the hot bussing in theregion where load connections are to be made.

When panel 100 is to be used, from one to three power outlet fittings 20may be mounted therein. As seen in FIG. 12, one power outlet fitting 20is mounted so that the circuit breaker sections 21, 22 engage theleftmost stabs 165a, 166a. The left-most portion 106a (FIG. 9) of theforwardly extending leg of ground bus 106 is clamped between the jaws ofreceptacle section grounding contact 42 (FIG. 13) and the forwardlyextending portion 1 11a at the left of neutral bus 111 is engaged by thejaws of neutral contact 47 in receptacle section 23. The prongs offour-prong plug 63 are inserted into receptacle section 23, and flexiblecable 63a connected to plug 63 extends downward through the leftmostnotch 207 in the bottom wall 271 of housing 101. in accordance withpractices well known to the art of distribution panels, all of thosenotches in face plate 176 that are not covered by a power outlet fitting20 or other circuit interrupter, are covered with snap-in type dummiesto preserve the integrity of the dead front. It is noted that thespacing between mounting hooks 175, 175 is sufficient to permit a singlepower outlet fitting 20 to be mounted with the line terminals thereof inengagement with stabs 165b and 1660.

For direct wiring, neutral connections are made to wiring devices116-118 and ground connections are made to terminal strip 109. The hotwire connections are made to two-pole circuit breakers secured by one orboth of the mounting hooks 175, 175. Such circuit breakers may be ratedup to 100 amps per pole and are of the type illustrated in the aforesaidU. S. Pat. No. 2,996,589. In ratings between 100 and 200 amps thecircuit breakers are of the type illustrated in the aforesaid U. S. Pat.3,573,415.

Thus, it is seen that this invention provides a novel construction for areceptacle type power outlet fitting comprising a plurality ofcoordinated single pole circuit breakers connected as a sub-assembly,and a receptacle section having ground and neutral terminals. Thesubassembly and receptacle section are connected end to end as a unitarymechanical structure interconnected electrically. While this inventionhas been described in connection with a three wire singlephase system,it should now be apparent to those skilled in the art that teachings ofthe instant invention may be utilized for three phase and othermultiphase applications.

Although there have been described preferred embodiments of this novelinvention, many variations and modifications will now be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Therefore, this invention is to be limited notby the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appending claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive privilege orproperty is claimed are defined as follows.

1. A power outlet device removably mountable in an electric powerdistribution panel, said device including a receptacle section, a firstcircuit breaker section, and a second circuit breaker section; unitarygenerally block-like molded insulating housing means for said sections;said circuit breaker sections being positioned side by side and having amanual operating handle connection extending forward of said housingmeans for manually operating both of said circuit breaker sections toopen and closed positions at the same time; said receptacle sectionbeing positioned adjacent one end of said circuit breaker sections inabutting relation therewith; each of said circuit breaker sectionshaving a line terminal disposed at the other end thereof; said other endbeing at an end of said housing means remote from said receptaclesection; said receptacle section including first, second, third andfourth elements aligned with respective first, second, third and fourthopenings in the front of said housing means to be engaged by plugprongs, of a single plug, inserted into said receptacle section throughsaid openings; electrical connections within said housing means directlyconnecting said first and second elements to said first and secondcircuit breaker sections, respectively, at their first ends; third andfourth plug-in type neutral and grounding terminals connected to saidthird and fourth elements, respectively, and accessible for engagementfrom the rear of said housing means.

2. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 1 in which the housingmeans includes individual molded housings for the respective first andsecond circuit breaker sections which are connected to form asubassembly; and retainer means mechanically connecting saidsub-assembly to said receptacle section to form a unitary structure.

3. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 2 in which the retainermeans includes a retainer member fastened to one of said sub-assemblyand said receptacle section and providing a hook-like blocking meanscooperating with formations of the other of said subassembly and saidreceptacle section.

4. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 3 in which one end of theretainer member is fastened directly to the receptacle section and thehook-like blocking means, disposed at the other end of the retainermember, the housings of the circuit breaker sections.

5. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 4 in which the retainermember is disposed within the region bounded by said housing means.

6. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 3 in which the housingmeans for both of said circuit breaker sections and said receptaclesection are provided with complementary interengaging formations foroperatively locating said sub-assembly relative to said receptaclesection.

7. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 2 in which each of saidcircuit breaker sections is an individually housed single pole unit ofidentical construction having automatic overload trip means.

8. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 7 in which there is ameans tying said circuit breaker sections together so that automatictripping of one of said circuit breaker sections due to an overload inthis section will cause the other of said circuit breaker sections toopen.

9. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 1 in which the firstelement, the second element, the neutral terminal and the groundingterminal are of substantially the same size and construction including apair of jaws for engaging a conductor therebetween.

10. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 1 in which each of saidcircuit breaker sections includes an opening at said one end for ventingof arcing gases; said housing of said receptacle section having chambermeans at the rear thereof communicating with said openings of saidcircuit breaker sections.

11. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 1 in which each of theline terminals is of a plug-in type construction.

12. A power outlet device removably mountable in an electric powerdistribution panel; said device including a receptacle section and acircuit breaker section; a unitary housing structure including arelatively narrow housing portion for said circuit breaker section aline terminal at one end of said housing portion and a load terminal atthe other end of said housing portion; means securing said sectionstogehter with said load terminal adjacent said receptacle section; saidreceptacle section including first, second, and third plug prongengaging elements, said unitary housing structure also including anohterhousing portion for said receptacle section, said elements beingdisposed with in said another housing portion in alignment with prongreceiving openings in a front surface of said another housing portion,first and second plug-in type connectors supported by said anotherhousing portion at the rear thereof and electrically connected to therespective first and second elements; and means disposed within saidhousing structure and electrically connecting said load terminal to saidthird element; said housing portion for said circuit breaker sectionbeing no wider than half the width of said another housing portion ofthe receptacle section; said another housing portion at the rear thereofbeing provided with first and second transverse parallel slots; saidfirst and second connectors extending into the respective first andsecond slots where they are accessible for engagement with respectiveground and neutral conductors of an electric distribution panel.

13. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 12 in which thetransverse parallel slots extend the full width of the another housingportion.

14. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 12 in which each of theconnectors is of female plug-in type construction.

15. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 12 in which said lineterminal is of a plug-in type construction and said housing portion atthe rear corner thereof remote from the receptacle section is providedwith slot means aligned with said line terminal; said slot means beingin a plane perpendicular to said slots.

1. A power outlet device removably mountable in an electric powerdistribution panel, said device including a receptacle section, a firstcircuit breaker section, and a second circuit breaker section; unitarygenerally block-like molded insulating housing means for said sections;said circuit breaker Sections being positioned side by side and having amanual operating handle connection extending forward of said housingmeans for manually operating both of said circuit breaker sections toopen and closed positions at the same time; said receptacle sectionbeing positioned adjacent one end of said circuit breaker sections inabutting relation therewith; each of said circuit breaker sectionshaving a line terminal disposed at the other end thereof; said other endbeing at an end of said housing means remote from said receptaclesection; said receptacle section including first, second, third andfourth elements aligned with respective first, second, third and fourthopenings in the front of said housing means to be engaged by plugprongs, of a single plug, inserted into said receptacle section throughsaid openings; electrical connections within said housing means directlyconnecting said first and second elements to said first and secondcircuit breaker sections, respectively, at their first ends; third andfourth plug-in type neutral and grounding terminals connected to saidthird and fourth elements, respectively, and accessible for engagementfrom the rear of said housing means.
 2. A power outlet device as setforth in claim 1 in which the housing means includes individual moldedhousings for the respective first and second circuit breaker sectionswhich are connected to form a sub-assembly; and retainer meansmechanically connecting said sub-assembly to said receptacle section toform a unitary structure.
 3. A power outlet device as set forth in claim2 in which the retainer means includes a retainer member fastened to oneof said sub-assembly and said receptacle section and providing ahook-like blocking means cooperating with formations of the other ofsaid sub-assembly and said receptacle section.
 4. A power outlet deviceas set forth in claim 3 in which one end of the retainer member isfastened directly to the receptacle section and the hook-like blockingmeans, disposed at the other end of the retainer member, extend betweenthe housings of the circuit breaker sections.
 5. A power outlet deviceas set forth in claim 4 in which the retainer member is disposed withinthe region bounded by said housing means.
 6. A power outlet device asset forth in claim 3 in which the housing means for both of said circuitbreaker sections and said receptacle section are provided withcomplementary interengaging formations for operatively locating saidsub-assembly relative to said receptacle section.
 7. A power outletdevice as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said circuit breakersections is an individually housed single pole unit of identicalconstruction having automatic overload trip means.
 8. A power outletdevice as set forth in claim 7 in which there is a means tying saidcircuit breaker sections together so that automatic tripping of one ofsaid circuit breaker sections due to an overload in this section willcause the other of said circuit breaker sections to open.
 9. A poweroutlet device as set forth in claim 1 in which the first element, thesecond element, the neutral terminal and the grounding terminal are ofsubstantially the same size and construction including a pair of jawsfor engaging a conductor therebetween.
 10. A power outlet device as setforth in claim 1 in which each of said circuit breaker sections includesan opening at said one end for venting of arcing gases; said housing ofsaid receptacle section having chamber means at the rear thereofcommunicating with said openings of said circuit breaker sections.
 11. Apower outlet device as set forth in claim 1 in which each of the lineterminals is of a plug-in type construction.
 12. A power outlet deviceremovably mountable in an electric power distribution panel; said deviceincluding a receptacle section and a circuit breaker section; a unitaryhousing structure including a relatively narrow housing portion for saidcircuit breaker section, a line terminal at one end Of said housingportion and a load terminal at the other end of said housing portion;means securing said sections together with said load terminal adjacentsaid receptacle section; said receptacle section including first,second, and third plug prong engaging elements, said unitary housingstructure also including another housing portion for said receptaclesection, said elements being disposed within said another housingportion in alignment with prong receiving openings in a front surface ofsaid another housing portion, first and second plug-in type connectorssupported by said another housing portion at the rear thereof andelectrically connected to the respective first and second elements; andmeans disposed within said housing structure and electrically connectingsaid load terminal to said third element; said housing portion for saidcircuit breaker section being no wider than half the width of saidanother housing portion of the receptacle section; said another housingportion at the rear thereof being provided with first and secondtransverse parallel slots; said first and second connectors extendinginto the respective first and second slots where they are accessible forengagement with respective ground and neutral conductors of an electricdistribution panel.
 13. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 12in which the transverse parallel slots extend the full width of theanother housing portion.
 14. A power outlet device as set forth in claim12 in which each of the connectors is of female plug-in typeconstruction.
 15. A power outlet device as set forth in claim 12 inwhich said line terminal is of a plug-in type construction and saidhousing portion at the rear corner thereof remote from the receptaclesection is provided with slot means aligned with said line terminal;said slot means being in a plane perpendicular to said slots.